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These specialist ebulletins keep you updated on relevant developments for organisations supporting women in contact with the criminal justice system.
In this edition...
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The Advisory Board for Female Offenders
The Advisory Board for Female Offenders (ABFO), now chaired by Minister Edward Argar, refreshed its membership in September. We are pleased to announce that Kate Aldous, Head of Strategic Development at Clinks, has secured a place on the board to represent the voluntary sector working in the criminal justice system. The ABFO is a group made up of representatives from government departments, criminal justice agencies and other key stakeholders. The board provides expert advice and challenge to the government and is responsible for the oversight of delivery of the government’s Female Offender Strategy. If you would like an issue to be raised at the ABFO, please contact Kate at kate.aldous@clinks.org
Female Offender Strategy
On 10th September in Bristol, Clinks and Agenda held the eighth networking forum for voluntary sector organisations working with women in contact with the criminal justice system. A representative from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) consulted delegates about the residential women’s centre pilots announced in the Female Offender Strategy. Delegates discussed: the support services needed at the residential centres; provision for children; and accommodation and ongoing support for women when leaving the residential centres. The MoJ also updated the Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) on the Female Offender Strategy, focusing specifically on the residential women’s centres and the local concordat at their last meeting in September. Read the minutes here (PDF)
Follow-on Farmer Review
Clinks sits on the expert panel for the follow-on Farmer Review and has launched the review’s call for evidence. The review is investigating how supporting women in contact with the criminal justice system to engage with their families can lower recidivism, aid rehabilitation and assist in addressing intergenerational crime. The deadline for evidence submissions is 7th November. Find out more here
Probation Review
Clinks submitted a response to the Ministry of Justice’s open consultation on the structure and content of probation services which closed on 21st September 2018. We reiterated the equality impact on women and the pressure that the women’s sector has faced since the 2014 Transforming Rehabilitation reforms. We recommended that to ensure adequate funding for women’s services that it be appropriately ring-fenced within each probation contract package area. Read the response here (PDF)
Criminal justice awards
Advance has made the shortlist for the Criminal Justice Alliance Awards 2018 for the ‘Outstanding Organisation’ award. This is for their Minerva WrapAround project, a community rehabilitation programme that provides holistic, trauma-informed and female-centred support in their women’s centre and in the community. Winners will be announced on 8th November 2018. The awards celebrate individuals and organisations who have made a marked contribution to effectiveness, fairness or new models of delivery. Find out more here
Supporting women into employment
The Prison Reform Trust, in partnership with Working Chance, is revising and updating its Working It Out briefing on supporting women with criminal convictions into employment. The team welcomes any information or evidence from Clinks members that would help them ensure it is a useful resource and advocacy tool. Deadline for contributions is 30th November and should be sent to: womensprogramme@prisonreformtrust.org.uk
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Women’s networking forums
Clinks and Agenda will be holding the next 'Women’s networking forum' [11th November, Liverpool, free]. Clare Jones, an expert on women-centred working, will be speaking about shared purpose commissioning to enable collaborative, relational and integrated approaches to commissioning women-centred services. The 2019 forums will be taking place on 19th March (Manchester); 18th June (London); and 17th September (Cardiff). Book your place here
Training session on finance
Women’s Resource Centre (WRC) is offering a full day training session on finances for joint projects and consortia [15th November, London, £25 for WRC members; £50 for non-members]. The training will help improve your understanding of allocating joint costs with multi-purpose activities and how to develop and monitor financial progress against consortium budgets. Book your place here
Training session on accessibility
Women’s Resource Centre (WRC) is holding an event, ‘Dismantling Barriers’ [22nd November, London, £25 for WRC members; £50 for non-members], that will bring together organisations from across the voluntary sector to share expertise and generate practical recommendations to improve the accessibility of services for disabled women and girls. Book your place here
Training session on unconscious bias
Women’s Resource Centre (WRC) is also running a training session on unconscious bias [29th November, London, £25 for WRC members; £50 for non-members]. The aim of the session is to raise awareness of what unconscious bias is, how to identify it and provide evidence-based techniques for challenging and preventing areas of unconscious bias in the workplace. Book your place here
Campaigning event
Women in Prison is currently in the early stages of organising a mass lobby of Parliament for women's centres to engage with MPs in early 2019. The date will be confirmed later this month. Find out more here
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Multiple disadvantage
Making Every Adult Matter (MEAM), a coalition of Clinks, Homeless Link and Mind, (alongside our partners Agenda, AVA and St Mungo’s) has published Jumping Through Hoops, a report which explores how organisations who are working together to provide coordinated responses to multiple disadvantage (either using the MEAM Approach or as part of the Fulfilling Lives programme) are meeting the needs of women. The report recommends that MEAM Approach and Fulfilling Lives areas involve women-specific services in their partnerships and that the work is shaped by the voice and experience of women facing multiple disadvantage. The report highlights the need for homelessness, substance misuse, mental health and criminal justice agencies to develop a clear understanding of what it means to be ‘gender informed’. Find out more here
Making Places Work for Women
Agenda has published a discussion paper entitled Making Places Work for Women with The People Point on how to make place-based systems change work for women in local areas so that services can better serve women and take into account their experiences. Women facing multiple disadvantage are amongst the most vulnerable and excluded in society, facing complex and overlapping problems. The current configuration of services does not work for this group of women and too many fall through gaps in support. The paper draws on existing evidence, identifies barriers to change and makes recommendations for funders, local organisations, councils, and central government. These include funding for a network of systems changers to share practice and pooled funding to promote local systems change. Read the paper here (PDF)
Mental health
Agenda has published a report entitled Women in Crisis looking at how women and girls are being failed by the Mental Health Act, including the lack of consideration given to past victimisation; inappropriate staffing and wards; and widespread use of restraint. Agenda has made a series of recommendations including for women to be asked about experiences of abuse by professionals with therapeutic follow-up; an end to face-down restraint and other forms of restraint as a last resort only; and for women to be able to choose the gender of professionals involved in their care. Find out more here (PDF)
Mental health in the NHS Long Term Plan
Agenda has submitted a response to NHS England on their long term plan for mental health. NHS England opened up the opportunity for stakeholders, including those who rely on and work with the NHS, to contribute their ideas, experiences and insights for its long term plan. As the top three priorities for meeting people’s mental health needs, Agenda recommended that NHS England publish a national women and girls’ mental health strategy; there be an expectation for all mental health trusts to have a clinical lead on women’s mental health; and that they take steps to address the links between violence and abuse and women’s mental health problems. Read the response here (PDF)
Still No Way Out
The Prison Reform Trust published an updated report Still No Way Out on the experience of foreign national and trafficked women in contact with the criminal justice system. The report recommends that criminal justice agencies and legal practitioners work with specialist women’s services to improve the treatment of foreign national women and that trafficked women not be prosecuted. The report also urges for an end to women being detained in prison on immigration grounds after the completion of their sentence. The Prison Reform Trust also submitted evidence to the Home Affairs Committee Inquiry into Modern Slavery on the ‘continuing failure to identify and avoid prosecuting victims of trafficking and modern slavery’ and highlighting various stages within the criminal justice system where failings occur. Read the report here (PDF)
Self-inflicted deaths in prison
The Ministry of Justice has published a review of self-inflicted deaths in custody in response to the significant rise in self-inflicted deaths that occurred in custody in 2016, of which women accounted for a disproportionate number. The review outlines work being done to make custody safer for women, including a dedicated prison group safety lead to identify and share effective practice that is bespoke to women. Family engagement workers have been placed in women’s prisons to help promote contact between mothers and children. Staff in women’s prisons have undertaken ‘trauma walk-through exercises’. The time spent in reception will also be minimised and there will be support workers available for women to speak to in reception and during induction - a high risk time for self-harm and suicide. Find out more here
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Reducing the prison population
Women in Prison is leading the ‘2020 Ambition’ campaign. This is a public awareness and lobbying campaign to reduce the women’s prison population to 2,020 (or fewer) by 2020. Women in Prison wants to build a louder and more positive voice to strengthen the call to reduce women’s imprisonment. Find out more here
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Women and girls
Comic Relief has launched Power Up: Resourcing Women’s and Girls’ Movements for Change. Funding is available to women and girl-led organisations, partnerships, consortia and women’s funds who are supporting women to have collective power, build movements and become change agents. The funding is available for three to five years. Grants range from up to £300,000 for single applicants or up to £500,000 for partnerships. The deadline for applications is 7th December. Find out more here
Victims of sexual abuse
Funding has been granted for victims of sexual abuse. The Home Office has announced that grant funding of £600,000 has been awarded to four charities who work with victims of sexual abuse to enable them to develop and expand their services including boosting online counselling and rape support centres. The funding was awarded to the National Association of People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC), Barnardo’s, Rape Crisis England and Wales, and Safeline Warwick. Find out more here
Grants awarded by the Ministry of Justice
The Ministry of Justice has announced that grants have been awarded to 13 charitable organisations and social enterprises, totalling £2.4 million as part of new HM Prison and Probation Service funding. Successful applicants included Birth Companions, Rape and Sexual Abuse Counselling Centre (Darlington and County Durham), and NEPACS (supporting prisoners’ families in the North East). Find out more here
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Lord Farmer’s work on supporting family ties in criminal justice
In this blog Nicola Drinkwater, Senior Policy Officer at Clinks, discusses the implementation of the Farmer Review recommendations and highlights how the voluntary sector can support the current Farmer Review into women’s family ties. Lord Farmer has supported the voluntary sector to throw a spotlight on the fundamental importance of supporting family ties for people in the criminal justice system. In 2017 Lord Farmer published his review with 19 recommendations for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and criminal justice agencies. This October, MoJ and HM Prison and Probation Service published an outline of their progress in implementing the Review’s recommendations. Read the blog here
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